Known from EP 1 985 351 A1 is a filter device for insertion in a motor vehicle having a filter element and a filter housing. The filter element is equipped with an RFID chip and a read device for reading out the RFID chip is arranged in the filter housing to make it possible to test and identify the filter insert when installed.
DE 10 2010 044 258 B4 discloses a filter device comprising a filter element having an RFID chip for insertion into a housing having a contacting component. When the filter element is installed in the housing, the contacting component communicates with the RFID chip. In this way it may be determined whether a filter element is inserted at all and/or whether the correct filter element is inserted.
The filter devices described in the foregoing do not offer sufficient protection against the insertion of filter elements that are not approved for the filter device, for instance counterfeit filter elements or filter elements from a different manufacturer that may not perform adequately. In the prior art, testing of the filter element may be cancelled in that RFID chips are removed from original filter elements and reused, or in that data retrieved from original chips are provided on an RFID chip of a copy of the filter element that has the same shape but may be of lower quality. In critical applications, this may in particular be associated with hazards.